Sister Bear
by Little Ms. Fangirl
Summary: This is the story about a girl named Hallena. After her brother is killed by a bear, and her parents were lost in an ice storm, she had been nothing but pure hurt inside. After killing a bear, she's turned into one herself. After meeting a cub, she starts seeing things better. She even sees one of her old tribe friends. Will she ever become human again? Will she learn her lesson?
1. Hard Beginnings

My name is Hallena. I lived during the Ice Age in Kenai's village. Yes, Kenai. Kenai the _Bear Boy_ as some people call him. We were friends, and I was upset after he left. Mainly because I was alone and I had no one else.

Let me tell you a little about myself first. I have dark brown hair and emerald green eyes. They often change to a sapphire blue in the summer. I'm very tall and have freckles going across my nose. I wear a green fur outfit and brown boots. I wear an amulet that my parents gave me. It's a thin circular pebble with marble look to it. It's green and his held together by brown twine and a metal clasp.

Let me tell you this. I wasn't alone before. After I turned 5 years old, my parents had wanted to go on a trip by themselves, so I stayed with Tanana, our village sha-man.

They said they would be gone no more than three days, but instead, they were gone way longer. People went searching for them. When they returned, they said that there was unexpected snow storm in the area and parents were caught in it. They were gone forever.

Kenai was a dear friend who had helped me. I had gotten over his leaving, but he still had a place in my heart.

I had a younger sibling that stayed with me, too. His name Riki. We were playing one day when he had gone too far into the woods.

I went searching for him when I heard the sounds of an angry bear. Lucky for me, I had a spear with me in case of danger, but when I got to my brother there was nothing left. It was parts of him and bone.

I went screaming for the village. My own brother, who had only been five at the time himself, was dead. I was 12 years old already, and had absolutely no one.

Kenai and his brothers helped care for me. I had the same energy, curiosity, and some stupidity as Kenai.

I learned to care for myself by the time I was 13. I hated bears more than anything. I hated fun, and I hated little kids.

I tried to stay away from people as much as could.

What really got on my nerves was the totem I had gotten at my womanhood ceremony when I was 16.

Lulea was a friend I had grown onto during the years. She was the only person I could bear. We were best friends.

One day, Lulea and I were getting fish for the tribe.

"Are you excited for the ceremony?" she asked me in her peppy, yet slightly annoying voice.

"Not really." I told her.

"Why not? It's the biggest ceremony of our lives!" she was really excited.

"Maybe for you others, but not for me. Especially if I get something I just purely hate." I cringed my nose.

"Just trust me on this one. I bet you'll love what you get." She said with her happy tone.

"How much are you betting?" I teased.

"Ha ha."  
She laughed sarcastically, "Very funny. C'mon, let's put this fish somewhere so we can get to your ceremony."

I put the fish on a high branch in a tree. My favorite tree to be exact. I liked going up there all of the time. The scene was always so beautiful. Plus, it had a tree hold in the higher part of the tree to store my weapons.

"Are you sure nothing will get that?" Lulea was unsure of the hiding place.

"Oh please, only I can get up there!" I scoffed.

We walked over to where the ceremony was being held.

Tanana was showing Denahi (our soon to be sha-man) my totem. She held it in a small cloth.

Denahi seemed to enjoy, but he looked over and his smile disappeared.

I had a feeling that meant I wasn't going to like it.

Tanana sat down and told the same boring lecture about our totems like she did every time someone was getting one.

Finally, she called me up.

"You nervous?" she asked me as she put the paint on my face.

"I'm just waiting for this to be over." I slouched and put my face on my hand.

"Don't be such a sour puss! You have a great one!" she whispered.

She started to speak aloud, "Hallena, I have been to the mountains where the lights touch the Earth, and the spirits have revealed to me, your totem. To become a woman, your actions must be guided by one thing." She grabbed the cloth from behind her. Everything was going slow, "Your totem is….Love!" in the cloth, was a rock in the shape of a bear.

Rage filled my eyes. "Of all totems, I get this one?" I was furious.

"Hallena, love comes in many ways. You just have to know how to find it." She told me.

I whisked my hand away from her. "It's not the meaning I hate, it's the symbol that represents it!" my eyes were filled with fury. I grabbed the totem and ran away.

"Hallena! Come back!" Lulea called to me.

I was too far, so she came after me.

I stopped at a meadow to catch my breath. It was near the tree I had put the fish on.

"Hallena, why would you do such a thing?" Lulea was demanding an answer.

"I do such a thing? I do such a thing?" I couldn't believe she was blaming me for ruining the ceremony.

"It isn't my fault! It's the spirits stupid fault for giving me this stupid totem!" I yelled.

"How could you-" Lulea didn't go on. She just stood there gazing at the tree with the fish. Only problem, though. There was no fish.

I rushed to the tree to see bear prints. "This is another reason why I hate bears so much!" my voice filled with rage.

"I've had enough of this!" I climbed up the tree, grabbed a spear, and jumped down.

I started following the trail.

I turned back and glared at Lulea, "You're either with me or against me."

Lulea stayed put and turned my back on her and ran, making sure I followed the path.

After about five minutes f not following me, she realized I could get into serious trouble. She went up, grabbed a spear, and followed me.


	2. Transformation

I found the bear with its cub. They were grazing on some berry bushes. I was pretty sure they smelled me since the older one snorted.

With all of my courage, I charged at it. The older one pushed the cub into the forest, and I chased him.

I was surprised at how weak the adult was being. I went right at it, but it took my spear which sent me flying.

I noticed that I had chased it all the way up a mountain. I had to be careful not to fall off.

The bear came charging towards me, and my spear was behind him! What was I going to do?

I then slid right under the bear so I could grab my spear, "Nice one." I thought to myself.

I tried stabbing it, but with one swipe of its paw, the spear broke in two.

Scared of what was to come. I kneeled down and held the broken stick in the air. The bear charged and lunged its chest right into the broken wood.

They bear toppled onto me. I struggled getting out from under, but eventually I did.

I fell to my knees breathing hard as I realized what I had done. I was proud, so I screamed a scream of victory.

It was darkening, and thunder could be heard.

I put my hand to the ground to hold myself up while I caught my breath.

As my head was looking at the ground, I noticed strings of light.

I looked up to see the spirits coming down before me.

They started to sing softly and calmly. At first it was only little noodles of blue light, but then they came rushing down like a waterfall.

I quickly ran to the side.

Out of curiosity, I took my broken spear and touched it with the broken end.

It then exploded into a light show of blue, green, and purple. Their singing had gotten faster and louder, too.

There were the ancestors of all the animals of the world. Then, there was a mammoth who was about to step on me, so I ducked. I realized they couldn't hurt me.

Wolves ran through me trying to tackle each other.

Fish swam around my head, even. Caribou were frolicking all around me.

I stared in awe as the lights showed me those creatures.

Suddenly, a ginormous hawk appeared.

As soon as it touched the ground, it shifted into a little boy.

He had dirty blond hair, blue eyes, and freckles all over his face. I recognized the face immediately, "Riki?" I gasped in disbelief.

He had look of disappointment. He gaze went to the dead bear. The lights swooped the bear into the air so it could join the spirits.

I looked back to see Riki was gone, "Riki?" I looked all over the place for my spirit brother. Suddenly, I looked up to see that he had shifted back into the giant hawk. He grabbed me by the shoulders with his talons and whisked me high into the air.

Once we were high enough, his wings folded around me creating the shape of a bear's head around me body. The shape roared and spun around me.

I spun with it and let out a great roar. I had gone through a transformation of my own. I needed to learn my lesson, but what was it?

I was out cold for a couple of minutes, but awoke as soon I hit the ground.

The lights and spirits stopped singing and disappeared as soon as lightning bolt flashed through the sky.

Apparently, Lulea was on her way up trying to get to me. She got to the top just as the spirits disappeared, so she didn't see anything.

She gasped in horror as she saw my clothes shredded all over the place. She fell onto her butt trying to back away from the bear that was standing before her.

In fact, that bear was me.

Confused, I stood up onto two legs. Everything was blurry. I shook my head trying to get things to clear up. A flash of lightning hit between both of us. I got scared and fell backwards off of the cliff.

I went falling into the rapids. I hit some rocks, stones, and logs. Eventually, I was out cold.

Lulea got closer to the clothes. She felt safer now that the bear she saw was gone.

"You're either with me or against me." Were the words I told her before I left and they echoed through her mind.

"I should've been with you, not against you. You were right Hallena, bears are horrible creatures." She looked over to see amulet glaring in the lightning's' light.

She fell to her knees and picked it up, "I will avenge you, Hallena. You didn't deserve to die." She took my totem out of her pocket and wrapped it around her spear.

She stood up and glared into the distance.

Rage filled her eyes. "Revenge." Was the word that now echoed through her mind.


	3. Waking Up into Another's Eyes

When I woke up the next morning, I had an immense head ache.

I looked around realizing that I wasn't in the village.

I turned my head one way and saw Denahi pop up from the river next to me with a cold wet cloth.

"Hey _Sleeping Beauty_ glad you wake up." He put the cloth on my head. "That was some ride last night on those rapids, huh?"

"Denahi?" I rubbed my head. I then remembered what happened last night.

"Denahi! You won't believe what happened! I was at the top of this huge rock when-" Denahi cut me off.

"Save your breath Hellana. I don't speak bear." He just stood there smiling at me.

"What?" I looked at my reflection next to me. There wasn't the face of a human, but of a bear!

I stood on two legs ripping myself apart. I said "No." every time I saw a bear part.

I finally looked at my butt. I saw stubby little tail and wiggled it.

I screamed to the top of my lungs.

I ran around screaming. To Denahi, it was just roars of a bear.

"Hellana! Hellana calm down! Easy girl!" Denahi, who was frustrated with me for not listening, came up to me and slapped me on the face.

"Ow!" I rubbed my snout with my paw (I hate saying that).

"Hellana, Riki did this to you." He pointed to the sky.

"Riki? Why would my sweet little brother do such a thing?" I asked.

Denahi didn't know what I was saying, but he gave me an answer, "Find him on the mountain where the lights touch the Earth. He'll help you make up for what you've done wrong." He drew the mountains in the dirt.

"What did I do wrong?" I asked. I looked up to see that Denahi had disappeared.

"Denahi, wait! What have I done wrong?" I yelled. "I'm not even sure where I'm going." I said quietly to myself.

I suddenly heard voices. I walked on two feet following them. By the way, it's really hard walking like that when you're a bear.

I followed them when I accidentally tripped over a tree root.

I fell right next to some rabbits that were frozen in fear.

"Maybe if we don't move she'll go away." One rabbit whispered to the other.

I screamed, "You just talked!" I was shaking like crazy.

"Stay still." The other rabbit whimpered.

"How are you guys doing that?" I got face to face with them, but they ran inside of their hole and didn't come out.

"Please, someone help me! I'm trying to find where the lights touch the Earth!" I leaned against a tree until someone started talking, "I remember when big bear asked us the same question, eh." One voice called.

"Yeah, eh. Good times." I looked over to see two moose brothers.

"Oh gee, eh! We've got her attention what do we do?" the smaller one asked.

"Run, eh!" the bigger one answered.

They turned from each other and ran, but then turned and ran towards each other. They then got their antlers stuck together.

"Oh great, eh. Now look what you've done." The two moose brothers started to argue.

I started to walk over to them while still on two legs.

"We're going to die, eh!" their teeth were chattering as well as the rest of their bodies.

"I'm not going to kill you. I just need to ask you some things." I told them as I separated them from each other.

"Thanks, eh! My name's Tuke that's my little brother Rutt." The bigger moose said.

"Yeah how's it going bear?" Rutt asked me.

I growled, "Don't call me that."

"Sorry, um, Ms. Bear?" Rutt suggested.

"No, I mean I'm not a bear. I hate bears." I told them.

"So what are you then, a squirrel?" they joked.

"No, I'm a human girl." I responded.

They just broke into laughter.

"What? What's so funny?" I asked them angrily.

"It's just that you might be a little out of it miss." Tuke said.

"I am not out of it! Just tell me where the lights touch the Earth!" I demanded.

They just stood there staring at me.

"You have no idea where that is, do you?" I asked.

They shook their heads.

"Whatever. I'll find it myself." I pushed them out of my way.

I wouldn't go that way, eh!" Rutt called.

"Why not, eh?" Tuke asked his brother.

"Oh gee, eh. I forget." Rutt said.

They started to fight and I just scoffed at them.

Still on two legs, I walked about three more feet when I got lifted upside down by a human trap.

I hit my head, back, and legs off of the rocks and trees nearby.

I tried for hours to get down, but nothing worked.


	4. Meeting Kiki

Finally, I got a hold of a tiny cave, but I thought it was a rock.

I heard someone whispering to me.

"Hey! Is it all clear?" the voice asked me.

"What?" I asked.

"Are there any hunters around?" she asked.

"Um, no." I answered.

"Sweet!" the character jumped out at me. I was so scared I let go and smashed my face off of the tree I was tied to.

Everything spun for a moment, but it cleared up again. "Thanks for the face bruise kid!" I thanked her sarcastically.

The bear was a cub. She had Mocha fur, lavender and wide eyes, a tuft of fur that covered her right eye like mine did.

In fact, I looked a lot like her. I had chocolate colored fur with bright green and wide eyes. There was even a tuft of fur that went over my right eye like hers.

The only difference was the shade of fur and the color of our eyes.

"Looks like you need some help." the cub asked.

"No I don't." the cub didn't listen to me. She crawled up the tree and tried to get me down, but instead she fell right on my face.

"Looks like that didn't work." She said.

I was getting irritated.

"I know how to get you down! I'll only get you down on one condition, though!" she said.

"And what condition is that?" I mocked.

"You have to take me to the Salmon Run. My dad was going to take me, but we got separated. I'll just meet him there." She told me.

"Fine, whatever." I gave in.

"Yay!" she ran over to a small peg from behind the tree and kicked it out of place.

I gasped and then went flying through the air while screaming.

I hit my head off of a rock and then fell off and back onto the ground.

"C'mon Let's-" she sniffed and ran off.

"See ya sucker!" I screamed.

I started to sniff and caught something weird, too.

I looked behind me to Lulea coming at me slowly.

"Oh Lulea, I'm so glad you're here. This was just pure madness so far." I had forgotten that humans couldn't understand me anymore.

She pointed her spear at me and started to chase me, "Lulea it's me, Hallena!"

She chased me all the way to an ice cave. I hid there hoping she didn't follow.

"Is it gone?" the cub asked me. She happened to hide in the same place, too.

I quickly grabbed her and covered her mouth with my paw.

"Shh!" I whispered.

I breathed heavily as I waited for Lulea pass.

I sighed of relief.

"Can't breathe." The little cub go.

"Why was she chasing me?" I asked myself.

"That's what hunters do!" she replied.

"But she doesn't kill animals." I said.

"Yeah, well lucky for her she didn't find us because when I'm angry, you have to face me. The bear with a bad tantrum." She showed me her karate moves.

"I can't wait to go to the Salmon Run tomorrow!" she exclaimed.

"I'm not taking you to that stupid Salmon Run kid!" I cleared up.

"Why? We had a deal!" she whined.

"Yeah, well I have some problems going on." I growled

"Please! There's a ton of bear and a ton of fish! And every night we watch the lights touch the mountain!" I cut her off. "Did you just say the mountains?" I asked.

"Yeah! It's so beautiful." She sighed.

"Ok, I'll go with you. Only because you know where the mountain is though, ok kid?" I said.

"My name isn't kid. It's Kiki." She pointed out.

"Whatever." I laid down and went right to sleep.

The next morning, Kiki was standing above me.

"What do you want?" I asked grumpily.

"It's time to get up! We have to find the mountains!" she said.

"Ok, kid. I'm coming." I was still tired and cranky.

"I told you before, my name is Kiki!" she yelled.

"Ok, whatever!" I rolled my eyes.

"What's your name?" she asked me.

"Hallena" I said.

"That's nice." She complimented.


	5. Bonding

As we walked, Kiki wouldn't stop talking.

"Will you shut up already? Please don't talk anymore! You're driving me insane!" I complained.

"Ok, I won't talk." She obeyed.

"Thank you." I turned back into the direction we were heading in until she spoke out again, "I'll sing instead!"

"No!" I said.

She started to sing:

_Tell everybody i'm on my way  
New friends and new places to see  
With blue skies ahead, yes i'm on my way  
And theres no where else i'd rather be_

(Song continues to play in the Phil Collins Version)

Everywhere we went she talked, sang, told stories.

She was giving me a head ache.

At one point, Kiki let her body float on the edge of a cliff. The wind was so strong, it levitated the first half your body so you could lean over without falling.

I decided to join her for some fun. About thirty seconds later, the wind stopped and we went falling off of the cliff and into a giant mud puddle. I picked my head up and Kiki burst into laughter.

"What?" I looked up to see my fur formed in a side flip hair-do.

"You think that's funny?" I grabbed her little head and gave her the beehive hair-do.

We laughed as we chased each other out of the puddle.

I pinned Kiki to the ground and started tickling her.

"Stop! Hellana! Quit it!" she was laughing so hard that I started to laugh.

Rutt and Tuke caught up with us.

"Help us, eh! The hunter's coming!" they yelled.

"We lost her under the glaciers!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, but she might follow those." Tuke showed us the foot prints we made. They were pretty nice.

I thought for a moment, "I have an idea." I told Kiki.

I saw a heard of mammoths and helped Kiki on.

I helped Rutt and Tuke get on, too.

I got on my own mammoth.

"I've never done this before!" Kiki giggled.

"Now you have!" I smiled at her. I never thought I'd become friends with a bear.

We even went through the water while riding them!

That night, Kiki came onto my mammoth. We were lying in their tusks resting.

My friend Koda was telling me how Bucky climbed a tree once and saw a flying salmon! Can you believe that? Oh, that reminds me! There was this other cub that-" I grabbed her jaws and shut them.

"Do you ever stop talking?" I teased.

Suddenly, the night sky lit up. "Look the spirits!" Kiki said.

"You know about the spirits?" I asked.

"Yeah, my grandma, grandpa, and my mom are up there. My dad said that they make all of the changes in the world like winter turns into spring, day turns to night, and-" I cut her off. "Yeah I know, I get it. For once, I wish they would just leave things alone." I turned from her.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"My brother's up there. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't be here." My face saddened. I was starting to really like Kiki.

"What happened to him?" Kiki questioned.

"He was killed by a b- by a monster." I sighed.

"What's his name?" Kiki asked.

"Riki." I replied.

"Thanks Riki. If it wasn't for you I would've never met Hellena." Kiki said to the sky.

I looked up. I couldn't believe she said that.

She snuggled next to me and said, "I've always wanted a sister."

Feeling loved by this little kid, I snuggled next to her.

The next morning, Kiki was crawling all over me.

"Kiki! Kiki wake up!" she finally woke up. I asked where we were at, but she just looked confused.

"Well, which way?" I asked.

"Uh….." she was totally lost.

"This is great." I mumbled.

"C'mon." I said.

Kiki followed.

"I'm sorry we're lost!" she yelled. "Even though it's practically your fault." She mumbled.

"My fault? What makes this my fault?" I was tense.

"It was your idea to ride those mammoths!" she argued.

"How else were we going to make sure that hunter wasn't following us?" I argued back.

"You know what? I've had enough. You're on your own!" I turned.

"Fine!" Kiki walked away.

I turned back around. The guilt was hitting me like an arrow.

"Kiki! Kiki, I'm sorry please come back." I yelled.

I followed her scent to a stone wall where there paintings.

One painting was of a human about to kill a bear. It reminded me of the fight I had on the mountain it was hard for me to look at it.

"Those humans are really scary. Especially with those sharp sticks." Kiki hid behind me.

I sighed, looked at the painting one more time, and said "C'mon let's go."

"Do you see anything yet or do you not see anything over my mountain of a head?" I joked. Kiki was sitting on my back.

"Do you think I have big head? My friends said I was just like this one kid and he had a big head." I asked.

"Well it is a little big. Just scrunch your shoulders a little." She pushed my back fur onto my head.

"Oh my you mean like this?" I jumped and lunged forward.

"Or how about this?" I started jumping her around.

Her laugh made me laugh as well.

Kiki started sniffing, "Hey I know this place! Koda always told me to go through here."

She brought me to ledge. I looked over to see a hot geyser park.

My jaw flew open.

"What? A little hot water won't kill you." Kiki said. She pushed me into area.

"Kiki!" I looked behind me to see that Kiki wasn't there.

"Kiki? Where'd you go?" I walked around sniffing and searching for her.

Then something screamed and jumped on my back.

I screamed and flung myself into a small crevice.

I turned to see Kiki laughing her tail off.

"Ha ha very funny Kiki." I said sarcastically.

"You were so scared! You should've seen your face!" she laughed.

I just growled at her.

She put her nose into the air and started to sniff.

"Hallena watch out!" Kiki said worriedly.

"You're not getting me this time." I wasn't going to be fooled by this little cub again.

"No, seriously, look out!" she exclaimed.

Then an arrow landed right next to me.

Out of the steamed jumped Lulea with a bow, arrow, and a spear.

"Run!" Kiki called.

Kiki ran ahead away from the hunter.

I wasn't sure what to do. I wanted to protect Kiki, but I didn't want to hurt Lulea either.

She started charging for me when I got up on all twos and roared as loud as I could.

I landed on a soft spot so when I put all of my weight on it, steam burst through it. I was able to get Lulea distracted for the moment.

I had made to the other side when I realized Kiki wasn't there.

"Hallena! Hallena where are you?" Kiki called as she paced around looking for me.

She then saw a shadow and started to run.

It was me. I grabbed her with my jaws by the scruff on her neck and ran.

I kept hitting soft spots and steam kept flying through my fur.

We finally made it to the exit. The only way to escape the hot springs was by crossing a very unsteady log.

I had to be careful. I carefully got about half way when Lulea came. I threw Kiki to the safe zone.

Lulea used all of her might to pick up the log and try to get it off of the land. The log started to fall. I ran as fast as I could and was able to get to Kiki safely.

Lulea was disappointed. Still filled with fury, she took her spear and jumped. From what was left of the hanging log, she was able to put her spear through.

She tried climbing, but the log couldn't hold her and it fell into the rapids below. Luckily, she survived and was swept away.

"Why do humans hate us?" Kiki asked once we were far away from the ledge.

"We're bears." I told her.

"So?" she couldn't see what the problem was.

"Bears attack humans for no reason." I told her.

"Which bears? I don't do that, Koda doesn't do that, and you don't do that." Kiki responded.

I was annoyed, but I also didn't know how else to explain it to her, "You're young. When you're older you'll understand."

There was a loud "Caw!" from a seagull that flew over my head.

"Whoa!" I screamed as I ducked.

"Yay, we're here! Now I can hang out with Koda!" Kiki ran off.

"Kiki wait!" I yelled out to her.

Then a whole flock of seagulls came rushing right at me.

I stood on two legs trying to shoo them, but they kept moving me backwards until I fell into some water.


	6. Salmon Run

I quickly rose to the surface and crawled onto the bank and shook myself off.

I looked around watching bears gather around me.

"What's all the commotion?" I big strong voice asked.

Everyone made room as an enormous black grizzly came towards me.

I chuckled sheepishly as I did a small finger wave at the bears.

"Hi Tug!" Kiki jumped onto the big grizzly.

"Hey Kiki!" the black bear whose name was apparently Tug, gave Kiki a high-five.

"Have you seen my daddy yet?" she asked.

"No, I haven't seen her." Tug replied.

"Ha! Looks like me and my new sister Hallena beat her!" Kiki looked towards me.

"She's with you?" Tug asked.

"I've never seen you here before sweet heart. Where are you from?" Tug grabbed a hold of me wanting an answer.

"Uh…." I was too nervous to get an answer.

"There's the mountain Hallena. We can check it out later. Right now let's go find Koda." Kiki took me away from the frightening bear.

"Hey Milo is Koda here yet?" Kiki asked a chubby bear cub.

"No, but him and his brother should be here in about an hour." The cub responded.

"Looks like we'll just have to have our own fun while we wait." Kiki said.

"Come with me." Kiki pulled me to this high ledge. Water was streaming right next to it. Suddenly, Kiki pushed right into it!

At first I closed my eyes, but it turned out to be really fun.

"You little trouble maker!" I said as I pinned Kiki to the ground again to tickle her.

"Stop! Quit it!" Kiki couldn't stop laughing.

"Hi Kiki who's your friend?" a small dark brown cub asked her.

"Hi Koda!" Kiki pulled herself out from under me and tackled Koda.

"So this is the Koda you've been telling me about." He seemed like a nice cub.

"Koda, this is my new big sister Hallena." Kiki introduced Koda and I to one another.

"Hi." Koda put his hand out waiting for me to high-five it.

I slapped and tousled his fur a little.

"Why don't you and your new sister come sit with me and my brother?" Koda offered.

"Sure." Kiki took the offer.

"Where's your dad by the way?" Koda asked.

"I don't know, he should've been here." Kiki answered.

Koda brought us to a spot where all of the bears were gathered.

Koda sat us next to a larger bear. He was slightly bigger than me. He had tan fur and brown eyes.

"Hey Koda, where have you been?" the older bear asked.

"I was getting Kiki. She got a new sister, too!" Koda turned to me.

"Uh, hi. I'm Hallena." I introduced myself.

Kenai's eyes widened.

"Koda, go play with Kiki. I need to talk to Hallena." Koda did as his brother told him.

"It's been a while Hallena." The bear said.

"I'm sorry, but what are you talking about?" I stood up.

"Don't you remember me? Think of the one bear you'd really know." He said.

I thought for a moment. Then I realized who I was talking to.

"Kenai?" I asked.

He nodded.

"What happened?" he asked me.

"I don't know. I was human one day and I'm a bear the next." I joked a little.

"We'll talk about this later. For now just relax and listen to the stories." Kenai told me as we sat back down.

Kiki and Koda came running back. Koda jumped between Kenai's paws. Kiki jumped onto my back.

Koda told a story about a cub named Bucky. Kiki loved it.

Kenai told a story about this hunter Koda and him saw who couldn't even put his spear together.

When I caught the salmon, I told my story.

"This year, I want when on a journey with the most annoying person I've ever met!" Kiki looked at me with her sad eyes.

"But she showed me how to have fun, and I ended up bonding with her." I picked up Kiki and gave her a hug.

"Ok, Kiki. Your turn." I tossed her the fish.

"Ok. It all started about 2 days ago. Dad and I were eating fish and enjoying ourselves. We were laughing, talking, and the normal father-daughter thing. Suddenly, my dad puts his nose in the air and starts to smell something. He tells me to be really quiet. Suddenly, a hunter jumps out!" Kiki roars.

I freeze. I start going into a flashback between my fight between the bear and I.

"Dad pushes me into the woods and tells me to stay down. After that, I hadn't seen him since." Kiki concluded her story.

I came out of the flashback and started getting scared. I had killed Kiki's dad!

I back up slowly and run away.

I ran to a ledge. I looked back at the Salmon Run. I started walking in circles thinking how I was going to break it to her.

I laid down and slept hoping that an idea would come to me.


	7. Confessions and Forgiveness

The next morning around dawn, Kiki came bounding onto my back trying to scare me again.

"Did I scare you? Did I?" she asked with a laugh.

"You alright, Hallena? You look terrible!" she said.

"Kiki, I have to-. You know that story you told me yesterday?" I asked.

"Yeah." She answered.

"Well I have a story to tell you." I told her.

"You do? What's it about?" she seemed interested, but not for long.

"It's about a girl and a bear, but mainly it's about a monster. This monster did something so bad, that the spirits lifted her up high into the air. There was a bunch of wind and colored lights. The spirits were singing. They were angry. As a punishment for her crime, they turned her into a bear. You see, she didn't like bears, so they thought this would be the perfect punishment. When she awoke, she didn't know the first thing about being a bear. Luckily, she met a little cub who told her how to do all of those things. They bonded and soon, she fell for the child. She wanted to become sisters with the cub." I told her.

"That bear sounds like you a little." She hugged me.

"Kiki, I didn't something horrible." A tear rolled down my cheek.

"What did you do?" she asked.

"I-I-I killed a bear." I stuttered.

"What?" Kiki was horrified.

"Kiki, I'm sorry, but your dad's not coming." I turned away.

"No. No. No!" she ran away with tears streaming down her face.

I sighed and laid down on the cold rock floor.

"Hallena, what happened last night?" Kenai asked me as him and his brother sat down next to me.

"Kiki hates me now." Was the only thing I could say.

"Why?" Koda asked.

"I just realized that I killed her father." Tears came rushing down like rapids.

"She doesn't hate you, she's just hurt. If she thought of you as a sister, she'd forgive you." Kenai assured me.

"I've realized my mistake." I said as I got up.

I started chasing after Kiki's footprints, but soon lost them.

"Kiki! I'm sorry please forgive me!" I yelled. There was no answer.

"I know you're mad at me and I would be too, but please come out." I called. Still no answer.

"She doesn't want me for a sister anymore." I said to myself.

I walked towards the mountain.

**Kiki's P.O.V**

I was hiding in a tree. I couldn't believe I didn't see this coming. Koda told me that this was what happened to his mother.

Did I really love Hallena as a sister? If I loved her that way, I would've forgiven her. I climbed down and sat in the snow for a moment.

Rutt and Tuke came over. Tuke had a broken antler.

"I can't believe this happened to me, eh!" Tuke complained.

"I'm sorry, eh!" Rutt apologized to his brother.

"I can't believe this!" Tuke said.

"Why won't you forgive me?" Rutt asked.

"Because I just can't!" Tuke responded.

"I forgave you when it happened to me!" Rutt yelled.

"You told me that you loved me as a brother. You even told me that being a brother is everything to you." Rutt said.

Tuke perked up, "Ok, I forgive you. But only because you mean so much to me." They did a high-five, or high-hoof, or however you say it.

I watched to whole thing. Their moment had knocked some sense into me. I did love Hallena as a sister, and I'm going to forgive her.

**Hallena's P.O.V**

I finally reached the mountain.

"Riki! Please answer me! I've learned my lesson! I know what I've done wrong. Kiki doesn't want me anymore. She hates me for killing her father." I screamed.

In the distance, I thought I saw wings of a hawk. "Riki?"

Then, a human jumped from the silhouette. It wasn't Riki, but Lulea!

She yelled as she came charging at me with her spear.

She tried stabbing me, but I held her back with my paw.

I was able to push her to the ground and get up onto my feet.

I ran about 2 feet, but she grabbed my leg and got me to the ground again.

I kicked her off, and ran to the edge.

"Riki! Help me, please!" I yelled into the distance.

Lulea was back on her feet and she pushed me off of the cliff. She came down with me.

I was knocked out for a minute, but I awoke as soon as Lulea turned me over and pointed her broken spear at my chest.

"No, Lulea please. I'm sorry I fought with you." I closed my eyes waiting for the worst to come, but it didn't. I heard a little cub roar.

I opened my eyes to see that Kiki came back for me and knocked the spear out of Lulea's hand.

"Kiki?" I was shocked that she came back.

I got up. Lulea looked for a spear and saw it over on the other side of the mountain.

She started running after it, and so did Kiki.

"Kiki, no!" I called as I ran after her.

Kiki grabbed the spear with her mouth and ran.

"Stop leave her alone!" I yelled.

Kiki tripped and let go of the spear.

Lulea grabbed it and pointed at me as I lunged at her.


	8. Final Choice

Suddenly, a hawk grabbed me with its talons by my shoulders and lifted me high into the air.

I was brought down and quickly changed back into a human.

Kenai and Koda made it to the top just as I was changed.

Riki changed back into a human.

He took an extra cloak from Lulea and put it around me.

"I'm human again." I looked at my hand.

"Riki!" I rushed to him and hugged him.

He hugged me back.

"Hallena, that was you?" Lulea asked.

I nodded.

"If had known I would've- I-I." I cut her off.

"It's ok. I understand it was a simple mistake." I put my hand on her shoulder.

Riki tugged on my cloak.

I looked down to see that he was holding my totem.

I took and looked at it. I then took it from my eyes to see Kiki hiding in a bush.

I walked over to her.

Frightened, she backed away.

"Kiki, it's alright. It's me, Hallena." I told her.

Her eyes widened, she smiled, and jumped into my arms.

I snuggled with her and cried a little.

Kenai walked up to me and looked at my totem.

"Yeah, Kenai, this is my totem." I set it on his paw.

He grabbed it with his jaws and put it around my neck.

I looked up to Lulea, "I

"I'm sorry, but I have to leave. She needs me." I told her sadly.

"It's alright, Hallena. You've followed your totem and you're making an important decision. I respect it. Just promise me one thing, though." She said.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Remember me as your best friend." She smiled.

I set the cub down and walked up to Lulea, "Deal!" we gave each other a friendly hug.

As we hugged, Riki clapped his hands once, and the lights shone brightly around me.

You could see my body gaining the parts of a bear.

My emerald green eyes turned back into spring green eyes. I grew chocolate brown fur. My body grew and I also had formed a tail, snout, sharp teeth, claws, and paws.

Lulea took my amulet that she found on the ground after my first transformation and put it on my neck.

"Remember, I bet your parents are watching. Wherever they are." Lulea told me.

I put my paw against my green amulet.

Lulea and I hugged my little brother.

We even looked over to see Kiki hugging her father.

Riki and Kiki's dad left together and joined the spirits.

I walked up behind Kiki as she looked into the sky sadly watching her dad leave.

She turned around and smiled. "Hallena!" she screamed.

Kenai and Koda joined the fun.

I laughed.

Lulea even joined us.

We spent the rest of the day playing and having fun.

The next day, we went back to my old village for the ceremony.

Kenai, Koda, and Kiki all came!

I walked down the aisle as everyone smiled.

I gave Lulea a high-five before she helped me put my paw in the paint.

I put my paw print on the wall.

There were now two paws on there.

I looked back at everyone.

I was now a woman, ready for my new life among the bears.

Creatures that were once my enemies were now my family.


End file.
